Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (1999-2006): A Musically-Shaped Narrative
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (1999-2006): A Musically-Shaped Narrative

Summary/Abstract: Lemony Snicket’s 13-book series A Series of Unfortunate Events (1999-2006) is a prime example of music and literature feeding upon each other. The books can be considered a fragmented accordion-like text which unfolds its themes to its readership. The opening song of the Netflix adaptation (2017–2019) of the books rely on the accordion, which is itself mentioned throughout the narrative. The author’s notorious love for this peculiar instrument (Handler 2012) has inevitably shaped the whole narrative of the novels. This focus on musicality allows us to explore different aspects of the novels. Apart from the various mentions of classical instruments, the text itself makes creative use of alliteration, assonance and both internal and structural repetition. Moreover, the accordion in itself is a telling instrument; just as in Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief (2005), the “poor man’s piano” can be a symbol for both life and death or joy and nostalgia. The dichotomy between the accordion being both a folkloric and classical instrument transpires through the narrator’s ambiguous position. This in turn showcases the duality between high and low culture, exemplified mostly by intertextuality. Most importantly, we can analyse this in the light of the versatility of the accordion which is reflected through the figure of Lemony Snicket. Just as Daniel Handler is an accordionist – a one-man band, capable of producing rhythm, harmony and melody simultaneously – Lemony Snicket is a multidimensional persona, as he is author, narrator and character at once, orchestrating his narrative at will. This paper thus focuses on the links between the novels and the image of the accordion in order to show the wealth of multifaceted writing. Mentions of the movie adaptation (2004), audiobook album song (2000–2006) and Netflix adaptation (2017–2019) further support this study.

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